Synopsis

At Bikini Bottom's Fast Food Coliseum, the 21st annual Fry Cook Games are underway. The top contenders for the gold medal have traditionally been Mr. Krabs and Plankton. This year, however, SpongeBob has been chosen to represent the Krusty Krab and is diligently warming up to compete. Patrick wanders by and also wants to play in the games, but is shut down by SpongeBob as only fry cooks may enter. Patrick scoffs at this, considering fry cooking to be no great feat. After a heated argument, Patrick storms off while SpongeBob intensifies his workout.

Plankton soon enters the stadium and engages in verbal fisticuffs with Mr. Krabs. Plankton reveals he has also recruited a contender to represent the Chum Bucket and calls forth a colossal giant. Strapped to his back is Patrick, who turns out to be the new fry cook Plankton hired five minutes prior. Now standing on equal ground, SpongeBob and Patrick each vow to defeat the other, despite feeling more hurt than angry. Mr. Krabs and Plankton fan the flames of their charges' rivalry, inciting them to show no mercy in the games.

"I've been working for the Chum Bucket for almost five minutes."

In their first event, the "Deep Fry Pole Vault," SpongeBob pulls off a nearly perfect jump, while Patrick only manages to scald the audience into fish sticks. Next, during the "Chocolate High-Dive," SpongeBob also does well, but Patrick is able to out-perform him with his concentration and impeccable form. The events continue, the two combatants maintaining an even score all the way to the final challenge: "Bun Wrestling."

As the bell sounds for the fight to begin, SpongeBob and Patrick rip off their robes to reveal muscularly toned bodies before leaping up and colliding with each other midair. They go at each other in fury, their grudges driving them more than their loyalty to their restaurants. They pull off increasingly dirty moves, practically torturing one another. They eventually end up in a grapple, each straining to bring the other one down, until the strain finally proves too much for their pants to take. They tear away to reveal that all along, SpongeBob and Patrick each wore underwear in the color of his best friend.

Moved to tears, the two friends reconcile and agree never to fight each other again, walking side by side out of the arena. This does not sit well with Mr. Krabs and Plankton, their pride and blood-lust remaining unsatisfied and try to get them to come back and fight again. As SpongeBob and Patrick leave, Patrick notes that his underwear were originally white.

Release

Reception

As of September 9, 2018, The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) gives this episode a rating of 9.1/10 based on 419 ratings by users.[1] TV.com users give this episode a rating of 9.0/10 based on 149 votes.[2]

"The Fry Cook Games" was ranked #59 during the Best Day Ever event on November 9–10, 2006.

Trivia

Timeline

Timecards

Please Stand By

General

This episode premiered in Canada on November 27, 2002, a year after it premiered in the United States.

The "Please stand by" screen after the failed attempt of the torch is also seen at the ending of "Shanghaied," after Patchy attempts to make the viewers walk the plank. A similar one is seen in "Ugh," when Patchy loses his balance while riding a fake dinosaur.

The scene where Patrick yells, "My name's not Rick!" and where SpongeBob and Patrick scream at each other and the big fish yells has become famous internet memes.

SpongeBob telling Patrick he has no fingernails is similar to "Hooky," where he tells Patrick he has no fingers, which is then followed by Patrick becoming angry after SpongeBob says it.

At the end of this episode, Patrick says his underwear was originally white. This means that he urinated in them.

In this episode, SpongeBob is able to do push-ups. However, in "MuscleBob BuffPants" during Sandy's workout, he hurts his arms after attempting to do just one.

In this episode, SpongeBob is also stronger than usual and having a muscular body, but he is shown to be very weak physically in "MuscleBob BuffPants" to the point that he wears a pair of inflatable fake arms to look strong, only for the arms to burst while he is struggling to throw a heavy anchor.

Plankton says that the square is "the shape of evil."

It is never revealed who won the Fry Cook Games at the end of the episode.

This is the second time in the series where Squidward makes no appearance in both episodes in the segment.

This is the second episode where SpongeBob is shown muscular. The first is "MuscleBob BuffPants."

This is the third episode in which, at no point, SpongeBob wears his normal clothes. The first is "Ripped Pants" and the second is "Walking Small."

The music played when Patrick says, "Because you told me to!" is also the opening music to the Nick GAS sketch "Heroes of the Game."

In the opening of the episode, it is mentioned that Plankton once won a gold medal while competing with a broken antenna. This may be a reference to Olympic Champion and WWE Hall Of Fame Member, Kurt Angle, who won gold in the 1996 Olympics with a broken neck.

Errors

The closed-captions refer to the 21st Annual Fry Cook Games as the 12th Annual Fry Cook Games.

After Patrick rips off part of the ground underneath SpongeBob, the next shot shows the ground fully intact and a stone appears (for Patrick's use, to show SpongeBob how easy flipping really is).

When SpongeBob and Patrick are leaving, Patrick is on SpongeBob's right, but moments later, he is on the left.

They could have decided to change sides when walking out.

When the fish holding Patrick arrives, he breaks the wall, but when he screams after Patrick and SpongeBob scream, the wall is put back together.

When Patrick is holding SpongeBob's foot, his sock is the same length as the other, but when Patrick is licking it, it is longer than the other.

When Plankton announces the giant fish holding Patrick and Frank tries to run away frighteningly, there are two Nat Petersons in the audience.

There are also two Freds in the audience.

When Patrick takes off SpongeBob's right shoe, the toes on his right foot are switched around, making it look like he has two left feet.

SpongeBob's foot normally has four toes, but when Patrick is licking it, his foot has five toes.

When Plankton says "Almonds?," his mouth does not move.

After SpongeBob does the "Deep Fry Pole Vault," one of the audience members has a deformed face.

In one of the challenges in the montage scene, Patrick does not have his white shirt on.